Agenda and minutes

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Venue: County Hall, Preston

Contact: Hina Visavadia, Artur Ogonowski  Tel: (01772) 537986, Email: appeals@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

CC C Edwards

Minutes:

CC Charles Edwards (Chair Person)

 

2.

Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

Minutes:

CC Christian Wakeford declared a non-pecuniary interest in relation to appeal 4159 on the grounds that he knows the pupil family.

 

3.

Minutes of the meeting held on 2nd October 2017

Minutes:

Resolved: That; the Minutes of the meeting held on the 02nd October 2017 be confirmed as an accurate record and be signed by the Chair.

 

4.

Urgent Business

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member's intention to raise a matter under this heading.

Minutes:

It was noted that the paperwork for appeals 4410, 4332, 4284, 4334, 4394, 4322  had only been finalised after the agenda had been circulated. As a result, the Chair had been consulted and had agreed that these appeals could be presented to the meeting under urgent business in order to avoid any delay in determining it.

 

Resolved: That, appeals4410, 4332, 4284, 4334, 4394, 4322  were circulated to the Members of the Committee, to be considered alongside other appeals at the meeting.

 

5.

Date of the Next Meeting

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am on the 4th December 2017 at County Hall, Preston – meeting room CHG02.

Minutes:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held at 10.00am on Monday 04th December 2017, CH1;14, County Hall, Preston

 

6.

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The Committee is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972 as indicated against the heading of the item and that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Minutes:

Resolved: That the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, during consideration of the following item of business as there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972, as indicated against the heading of the item.

 

7.

Student Support Appeals

Minutes:

Note: Reason for exclusion – exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972. It was considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information).

A report was presented in respect of 21 appeals and 6 urgent business appeals against the decision of the County Council to refuse assistance with home to school transport. For each appeal the Committee was presented with a Schedule detailing the grounds for appeal with a response from Officers which had been shared with the relevant appellant.

In considering each appeal the Committee examined all of the information presented and also had regard to the relevant policies, including the Home to Mainstream School Transport Policy for 2016/17, , and the Policy in relation to the transport of pupils with Special Educational Needs for 2013/14.

 

Appeal 4255

It was reported that a request for transport assistance had initially been refused as the pupils would not be attending their nearest suitable school, which was 3.20 miles from their home address and instead would attend their 3rd nearest school which is 4.90 miles away.

In considering the father's appeal the committee noted that the father had been awarded shared court custody of the pupils and that both pupils had then come to reside with the father.  The committee noted that the partner had initially been able to take the pupils to and from school but circumstances had changed resulting the father and his partner being unable to take the pupils to and from school.  The father stated that both pupils have become more settled since living with him and moving them to another school would be detrimental to their emotional wellbeing.

The appellant stated, as noted by the Committee that the father had applied for home to school transport assistance as one of the pupils was moving into year 10 at school and the father did not want to disturb the pupil by moving school as they were about to start GCSE work.  The Committee noted that a previous appeal for transport was refused as there was a nearer school and had places available.  However, the appellant stated, that this was not an option for the pupil as it would have been potentially catastrophic and raised issues with the appellant's previous partner.  Consequently the appellant's present partner continued to take the pupils to school and back.  The appellant stated that the younger pupil started at the same school to be with the older pupil and that is why it was chosen as their first preference of school when they applied for it.  However, the appellant's partner has now got a new job which meant that the partner was no longer able to transport the pupils to school and home again and that is why the appellant is asking for transport assistance now. 

The Committee have noted the appellants comments which explains  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.